Shut-tight Dracut Town Hall angers, confuses residents

By John Collins, jcollins@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/01/2013 06:42:06 AM EST

DRACUT -- Residents trying to do business with the town on Monday -- obtaining fishing, hunting or dog licenses, paying excise taxes, or doing other town business -- were greeted with a locked-tight front door.

The door had no notice explaining why Town Hall was closed: The Board of Selectmen had awarded all "non-public safety employees" a free vacation day on New Year's Eve, in advance of the Tuesday holiday.

Told by a Sun reporter that Town Hall was closed, some residents shrugged while others were mad or incredulous. One resident seeking a hunting/fishing license said, "Welcome to Dracut; how do you like it?"

At 9:47 a.m., Karim Morgan tried the door handle unsuccessfully. He was there to renew his dog's license, which was to expire at midnight.

"This isn't a holiday, so I came figuring it'd be open," said Morgan. "It's annoying, but it is what it is. What are you going to do?"

Minutes later, 21-year-old Aaron Levesque, stopped on the way to his work his 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. shift at Market Basket. He wanted to pay his auto excise-tax bill.

"I am pretty disappointed that it's closed," said Levesque. "I wanted to pay it, now I can't ... I have to work an 8-hour day today."

Roger Ypya was upset, because he wanted to cancel his motorcycle operator's license in advance of putting the vehicle up for sale.

"How about that? Our tax dollars at work," said Ypya after trying the door. "I took today off, so it was convenient to come down here.

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Ypya won't be able to do his business at Town Hall on Wednesday, "because by the time I get out of work they're closed," added Ypya, who said he works fulltime as a welder.

At 10:25, Sarlita You, who identified herself as a new Dracut resident making her first visit to Town Hall, made the frigid walk up from the lower parking lot to the building's front door to find it closed.

"I am surprised it's closed," said You, who works fulltime as an accountant. "So it's no wonder nobody answered my phone calls. I called ahead, three different numbers and nobody answered ... They got a free day off? That's a nice thing for (the selectmen) to do, I guess."

Amanda Hall, a day-care worker who also had the day off, said she came to Town Hall to pay her excise taxes, and had "no problem" with the idea of Town Hall workers being awarded a bonus day off, she said.

Concurring with Hall, longtime Dracut resident Rick Donnelly, who wanted to fill out veterans' benefits paperwork for his mother, said "Everybody deserves a day off."

At Dracut's Department of Pubic Works on Hildreth Street, where workers were also included in the Town Hall employees' free day off, the only activity seen Monday morning was retired Police Officer Gerry Dauphinais loading a bucket with sand from the pile provided by the DPW for residents' private use on walkways and driveways.

"It's New Year's Eve. They should have the day off, nothing wrong with that, I'm thoroughly for it," said Dauphinais, who served as a police officer for 23 years before retiring a decade ago. "Everybody else, most businesses, have the day off. So I don't understand why it's a controversy."

Selectman Joe DiRocco, who authored the selectmen's motion to give town workers the day off, said yesterday he was surprised to learn that Town Hall was busy on the morning of New Year's Eve, but defended the board's decision to award the bonus vacation day.

DiRocco's motion to leave Town Hall closed, for what amounted to a four-day weekend through Tuesday, passed at the selectmen's Dec. 11 meeting by vote 4-1, with only Chairman Cathy Richardson opposed.

"The heating of the building, even though not a big deal, it is still a money thing," said DiRocco. "Plus, the way the economy has been, workers at Town Hall have not been given anything in the way of raises for the last six, seven, eight years. This was more of an appreciation (gesture) for the town employees.

"The thing that surprised me is, usually it's not that busy," added DiRocco.

Speaking against the motion, Richardson described it as "unfair" to residents who work in the private sector who are required to either work or use personal or vacation time to have New Year's Eve off.

Town Halls in Dracut's neighboring communities of Tyngsboro, Pelham and Hudson, N.H., were open for regular business hours on Monday. Lowell City Hall was closed for the day.

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